The Future of the Future
by CosmoFan47
Summary: On December 31st, 3014, Fry prepares to propose to Leela. But after the question is asked, Fry and Leela find themselves frozen in the cryo-tube that Fry was in for 1000 years. They wake up 2000 years later to a world ruled by robots. And the leader of the new world seems familiar…
1. Prologue: Fry Pops the Question

Hello FanFiction universe. Picture yourself in New New York City, December 31st, 3014. It is just a few minutes until midnight, when the new year of 3015 will begin. One Phillip J. Fry is standing in front of the cryo-tube that once brought him from the 20th Century into the 31st. He is preparing to do something he should have done years ago- propose to one Turanga Leela. What he doesn't realize is that this proposal will take the young couple into… The Future of the Future.

Prologue: Fry Pops the Question

Fry paced the length of the cryogenics lab, waiting. Everything was all set- the pizza, the beer, and the little box in his pocket.

What if she doesn't come? Fry thought, not for the first time this evening. What if Leela decides to stay at the Planet Express New Year's Eve party instead of meeting me here?

Just as he was about to give up, Fry heard the door open. He turned and saw Leela, in her one-eyed mutant glory.

"Hello Fry," Leela smiled.

"Hi Leela," Fry squeaked. Hoo boy. Leela looked really nice tonight. She was wearing a blue dress that really brought out her eye.

Leela looked around, her eye resting on the lone desk. "Ooo, pizza." A drop of pizza sauce fell onto the floor as Leela pulled out a slice.

Fry gulped. His throat suddenly felt really dry. "So, Leela, I guess you're wondering why I asked you here?"

"Not really," Leela swallowed her last bite. "I figured you'd do something stupid and I thought, what the hey, that party is the same every year. Bender drinks every drop of alcohol, Hermes tries to organize the snacks, the Professor sleeps the whole time, Zoidberg ends up eating his tie, and Amy changes dresses every hour. At least with you nothing ever stays the same."

"Is…is that a good thing?" Fry asked.

"Of course, Fry." Leela smiled. "It's exciting. I would never get old of your crazy antics."

"Well then, I hope we can share those crazy antics forever," Fry gazed into Leela's eye. "Turanga Leela, my one-eyed, mutated beauty…" he got down onto one knee and pulled out a velvet box. "Will you marry me?"

Leela started to tear up. "Oh Fry." She opened the box.

There was no ring inside.

"Yeah, about that," Fry said sheepishly. "I didn't have enough in my savings account for a ring. I could only afford a box."

Leela laughed. "Oh Fry."

Fry stood up. "Well Leela? What's your answer?"

"10…!" cried the New New Yorkers in Times Square.

Fry smiled. "I love you more than anything, Leela."

"9…!"

"Please say yes, Leela," Fry begged.

"8…!"

"Oh Fry…"

"7…!"

"…Of course I'll marry you!" Leela exclaimed.

"6…!"

"Leela, you've made me the happiest man who was frozen for 1000 years!" cried Fry.

"5…!"

"That's a small percentage of the population," Leela chuckled.

"4…!"

Fry leaned in for a kiss.

"3…!"

Leela's high heel slipped on the drop of pizza sauce on the floor…

"2…!"

…Fry and Leela fell into a cryo-tube, the same one that Fry fell into back during New Year's Eve, 1999…

"1!"

…The door to the cryo-tube closed, and Fry and Leela were cryogenically frozen, caught in the middle of a passionate kiss.

The timer had been set for 2000 years.


	2. Chapter 1: New New New York City, 5015

Oh COME ON! Fry just HAD to get frozen again, and bring Leela along with him! That's insane! But then again, Leela pretty much knew what she was getting into when she agreed to marry Fry- a life of chaos.

Chapter 1: New New New York City, 5015

Ding!

The door to the cryo-tube opened, and Fry and Leela fell out of the cryo-tube, still kissing. And they would have kept on kissing if Fry hadn't banged his head on a chair as they fell.

"Ouch!" Fry cried.

Leela stood up. "Are you okay, Fry?"

Fry stood, rubbing his still sore head. "Yeah, I think so. But why is it so dark in here?"

Leela looked around. "The window is boarded up," she observed.

"Oh, so that explains the darkness in here," said Fry. Leela stared at her soon-to-be husband. Despite her acceptance to the fact that she loved him, Leela was still astounded by how dim Fry could be sometimes.

"Fry," Leela said slowly. "The window wasn't boarded up when we came in. Doesn't that seem strange?"

Fry shrugged. "Hey, I've seen a lot of strange things since I came to the future. Maybe someone just tried out a new instant-boarding-up-windows invention."

"Okay, that may sound like something the Professor would have invented," Leela agreed. She wandered over to the desk and wiped a finger on it. "But how do you explain the dust?" Leela held up her finger, which was covered in a thick amount from the desk.

Fry thought about it. "Maybe a dust monster got in?"

"Fry, there's no such thing as a dust monster," Leela argued.

"Hey, the future can have aliens, robots, and even mutants. Who says that one or more of those creatures couldn't be made out of dust?" Fry insisted.

"Not a robot, but maybe an alien or a mutant could be made out of dust," Leela admitted. She sighed. "Okay, I'm not getting through to you. I'll try and make this as simple as possible." Leela pointed to the cryo-tube the couple had rolled out of. "We came out of a cryo-tube, right?"

"Right," Fry agreed.

"And cryo-tubes freeze people, keeping them alive for long periods of time, right?" Leela continued.

"Right," Fry said again.

"Fry, you accidentally got frozen during the 20th Century, didn't you?" said Leela, hoping that this time Fry would get her point.

"Well technically, Nibbler pushed me into the cryo-tube so that I could defeat the Brain Spawn in the future," Fry pointed out. "But yeah, that's what I originally thought happened."

Leela sighed again. "Fry, I love you, but you are still not getting it."

"Getting what?" Fry asked, smiling naïvely.

Leela groaned. "I think we were accidently frozen. We're now in the future!"

Fry stared with a blank look on his face. Then his eyes widened. "Oh! You mean we've been sent to the future of the future?"

Well, Leela thought. Fry is from the 20th Century, after all. I'm from the 31st, so my time would be the future for Fry. He is always calling my time the future. Calling whenever we are the future of the future would actually make sense. "Yeah, I guess so," she said aloud.

"Whoa," Fry said in awe. "I wonder how long we were frozen."

As Fry was wondering, Leela glanced at the cryo-tube they had fallen out of. Her eye opened wide. "We've been frozen for 2000 years!" she yelped.

"Wow!" Fry exclaimed. "That's even longer than I expected."

Leela screamed out in aggravation.

Fry looked at his soon-to-be wife. "Is something the matter, Leela?"

"Fry!" Leela cried out, pacing the room. "Don't you get it? Our lives are gone! We have no homes, no jobs, and everyone we know and love died who-knows-how-long ago!" She burst into tears. "Oh god, my parents. I still barely know them. How can I live with them not knowing what happened to me?"

"We still have each other," Fry insisted.

Leela gawped at Fry.

"Leela, think about it," said Fry. "We may have lost our friends. We may have lost our family. We may have no home or jobs. But I know what it's like to live in a time beyond your life span. I can help you. Besides, it should be easier this time. The first time I was frozen, I was alone. This time, we have each other. Everything will work out, Leela. Trust me on this."

Gazing at Fry's childlike, hopeful smile, Leela could see the possibilities unfold. At that moment, she believed that Fry was actually right. Everything would be okay.

That was when a wreaking ball smashed its way through the wall.

"What the…?" Leela cried.

Luckily, that one smash was not enough to bring the entire building on top of the young couple. Unluckily, a small group of people began climbing through the hole in the wall.

Leela jumped in front of Fry, ready to send a tornado of roundhouse kicks at the people who had tried to kill them. While she waited for the dust to settle, Leela began wondering what she could be up against. Dictator aliens? Killer cyborgs? A new breed of dangerous super mutants?

As the dust settled, Fry and Leela saw that the group was none of those things. It was just a group of robots- robots that Fry and Leela knew from the 31st Century.

The robots hadn't noticed Fry and Leela yet. Most of them seemed to be focused on the robot at the head of the group. The robot in front was giving a speech as he walked through the cryogenics lab.

"On this glorious morning, January 1st, 5015, we are here to bid farewell to the last remaining building from the Age of Reversed Slavery. The last building from the era when everything was backwards…"

The robot stopped abruptly. He had just spotted Fry and Leela standing a few feet in front of him. "Just what are these perfectly good slaves doing standing around? And why are they dressed so nicely?"

Leela was in shock. This robot was Calculon! For some reason, the acting robot was back from Robot Hell again and thought that Fry and Leela were supposed to be slaves. Even weirder was that Calculon thought that Fry was dressed nicely. Sure, Fry was wearing his brown dating jacket, but it was hardly any nicer than his usual red one.

Before Leela could stop him, Fry started walking up to Calculon. "Hey Calculon! You're back from the dead again, huh? Are you back on "All My Circuits" yet? I would love to see some new episodes-"

Before Fry could finish, Calculon reached over and grabbed Fry's neck with one hand. "How do you know about "All My Circuits?" hissed Calculon. "Only the dominant species of this planet is allowed to watch television. Robots only! No humans." The robot said the last word like he was going to throw up.

"What are you talking about?" Leela asked. "Robots were originally built by humans, the dominant species of the planet."

"And humans have been watching "All My Circuits" for years," Fry choked.

"Lies!" Calculon thundered. "Our Emperor built me, solely for the propose of entertainment."

"You two slaves are insane," said another robot. It was the officer robot URL. "I'm taking you to the Emperor. He'll set you straight. Oh yeah."

"What Emperor?" Leela asked. The robots ignored her as they handcuffed Fry and her to URL. Leela was about to demand answers when she saw what was beyond the hole in the wall.

The city looked basically the same. The tubes were still working, and the buildings were similar to the ones in the 31st Century. But everyone was a robot, with no human in sight- at least that Leela could see. And there was a huge palace towering above the skyscrapers, with a giant gaudy sign at the top.

The sign read "Welcome to New New New York City, Capital of the Solar System and surrounding planets! All must worship the Emperor!"

Leela's doubts about being happy in this future were returning.


	3. Chapter 2: The Emperor

Well now. This is not looking good for our favorite Futurama couple, is it? Will Fry and Leela be happy in this future of the future? Or will they have to find a way back to the 31st century? And who the "bleep" is the Emperor? Author's Note: The first person that can decipher the binary code in this chapter will be written into a future chapter. Good luck, everyone!

Chapter 2: The Emperor

URL dragged Fry and Leela through the streets of New New New York, the cuffs on the couple's wrists chafing.

Calculon walked in front of URL, calling out "Two perfectly good human slaves, thinking they are just as good as us robots! Fresh for ridicule! Come on out and shame them!"

Robots rushed out of their homes at the sound of Calculon's voice. Within seconds the robot population was outside, booing and hissing at the sight Fry and Leela.

Leela looked at the crowd. She recognized a few robots, but most of them Leela had never seen in the 31st century. It seemed like the robots of this future had been starting families. Of course, some robots in the 31st century had started families, but it had been extremely rare. Here in the year 5015, robots appeared to have experienced a baby boom.

Calculon had mentioned that humans were slaves to robots in this future. But if that was the case, where were they? With all of these robots, you would think there would be at least one human per family around. But there wasn't.

So where were all the humans?

…

It took longer than Leela thought to reach the palace because it was farther away and bigger than she had originally thought. After about an hour of being hauled through various neighborhoods, the doors of the palace were in sight.

The group now seemed to be in the richer part of town. The buildings were marble, with gold trimmings. The streets seemed to be paved with diamond chips mixed into the cement. And the robots that crowded around now had bottles of fancy, expensive alcohols in their hands…

Crash!

"Ow!" Fry cried. His hand instinctively reached for his left cheek.

"Fry!" Leela exclaimed. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"One of those fancy beer bottles was broken. I think it cut my cheek," Fry mumbled. His hand was almost on top of the cut.

"Don't touch your cheek, you could get that cut infected," Leela scolded. "Hey," she said, trying to get her captors' attention. "Hey, Calculon, URL, we need to stop."

The robots ignored Leela.

"Slow down!" Leela snapped. "My friend here needs to see a doctor."

"You two are certainly chatty for a couple of slaves," URL remarked. "You two may be crazy. With means the Emperor will put you down. Oh yeah."

"Of course they're crazy, Officer," Calculon remarked. "The female just made up a word. 'Doctor,' bah! What kind of a word is that?"

"A doctor is someone who treats sick and injured people. Where to you go to when something's wrong?" Leela asked.

"To a mechanic, of course." Calculon scoffed.

"Wait, back up!" Fry cried. "Officer, when you said we would be 'put down,' did you mean killed?"

Now it was Fry's turn to be ignored by the two robots.

It took all of Leela's concentration not to look at Fry's cut cheek. Ever since Fry was obliterated protecting her from that explosion after going through the Panama Wormhole, Leela couldn't handle seeing Fry injured in any way. Even a paper cut on Fry's finger would make Leela woozy.

Scratch that, Leela thought. Fry would never be caught with a paper cut. He never reads anything, much less a book!

Just then, the group reached the palace doors. A couple of robots outfitted with gigantic laser guns asked Calculon and URL something in binary.

"01001111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01110010 01110101 01101100 01100101 01110010 00100111 01110011 00100000 01110011 01110101 01110000 01100101 01110010 01101000 01100101 01110010 01101111 00100000 01101001 01100100 01100101 01101110 01110100 01101001 01110100 01111001 00111111," the guards asked.

"01010011 01110101 01110000 01100101 01110010 01101011 01101001 01101110 01100111," replied Calculon and URL.

"Enter," the guardbots said in English. The palace doors opened automatically, and the group was ushered through.

If URL hadn't been pulling her along, Leela would have stopped to stare. Not in awe, but in disgust. The entire first floor of the palace was a giant casino, with dozens of bars, hundreds of hookerbots, and a whole lot of blackjack.

Calculon and URL dragged Fry and Leela through the casino floor to a bank of crystal elevators, stopping every few feet so that Calculon could greet a fan. When they finally reached the elevators, they had to wait five minutes for one to reach the floor.

"Oh my Robot God," Calculon grumbled. "Why did the Emperor have to make his palace the tallest structure on the planet? It takes forever for even one of the elevators to reach this floor!"

"We would have caught one in time if someone hadn't insisted on signing autographs for every robot he meets," URL shot back. "Oh yeah."

Once the group finally got into an elevator, the elevator zoomed upward. They passed the second floor so fast that Leela couldn't see what was on that floor.

Within seconds the group reached the third floor. They entered a grand room, as big as the entire Planet Express building, plus the inside of the Planet Express ship. An impressive throne sat in the center of the room, empty of a sitter.

URL forced Fry and Leela onto their knees. "Kneel before the throne of our most glorious Emperor, human scum!" Calculon bellowed.

Leela noticed a robot standing next to the throne. She couldn't quite figure out why, but this robot looked fairly familiar. The robot tapped his foot three times, and the throne rose up through a hatch in the ceiling.

Fry and Leela looked at each other. "Whatever happens, Fry, at least we'll be together," Leela whispered.

"Yeah, plus in this future, I don't have to be a delivery boy!" Fry whispered excitedly.

"Right, because you'll either be a slave or dead," Leela reminded her dimwitted fiancé.

"Oh, yeah," Fry wrinkled his nose. "I didn't really like being a slave while on Osiris 4. Also, I don't remember much about being dead except that it sucked."

Just then, the throne came down from the hatch in the ceiling. Leela braced herself for some kind of intimidating, malevolent dictator bot.

The robot on the throne was nothing like that. He was scrawny, wearing a red cloak and a gold crown. His feet up were on the left-hand armrest, his eyes closed while drinking a beer.

The robot opened one eye to peek at Fry and Leela- and his eyes opened wide as he spewed out beer.

"Fry? Leela? What are you doing here?" the Emperor sputtered.

Fry and Leela couldn't believe it. It was crazy! It was impossible! It was…

"Bender?"


	4. Chapter 3: Close Encounter

Okay, I know most of you saw this coming. But come on! Do you really think Bender being the Emperor is the whole story? Nope. There is something bigger going on here, folks. What is it? Well keep reading! I'm not going to tell you what it is! Author's Note: I realize that the last contest was too difficult, so I am canceling it. The new contest is… the first reader that can tell me the origins of the character that appears at the end of this chapter shall appear in a later chapter as a robot! If you think you know it, please PM me with your answer, along with your name, gender and hobby. Good luck to all!

Chapter 3: Close Encounter

"Emperor," Calculon said carefully, after a five minute long silence. "How do you know these two humans' names?"

Leela's mind raced frantically. Bender must have conquered the world sometime after she and Fry were frozen. Bender did always have a world dictator vibe about him. But Bender's idea of his own empire usually involved killing all humans, not enslaving them. So what changed the bending unit's plans?

Fry didn't appear to be thinking at all. His face was identical to the one he made when he realized he had intercourse with his own grandmother. Except Fry wasn't screaming at the top of his lungs this time. His face was just stuck.

Bender was staring at Fry and Leela from atop his throne. His facial expression was as close to astonishment as the robot's face could. But other than that, Leela couldn't pinpoint any other emotion.

The familiar looking robot standing next to the throne had his hand over his mouth. Leela kept thinking that she knew this robot, but she just couldn't place it. If she hadn't been waiting for Bender to decide her fate (which would probably mean a gruesome death), Leela would have been able to pinpoint just who that robot is.

"Emperor?" URL spoke up. "We need your divine intervention to help us deal with this most unusual case of human disobedience. Oh yeah."

"O most glorious Emperor," Calculon went into his usual overdramatic acting mode. "We, your most loyal subjects, ask you to jury and judge these obviously mentally ill human slaves. This is a case most unusual, as I am sure you are aware. So I ask you once again, dear Emperor- what are your robot brethren to do?"

"Oh Lord," Leela muttered, earning her a kick in the behind from URL. "Ow!"

Bender's face continued to show that robotic expression of astonishment. Then, slowly, Bender contorted his facial expression into a cold, calculating look. It was a look that sent Leela's hopes down farther than she ever knew they could go.

"I know these two humans, yes," Bender said to Calculon and URL. The two robots gasped. "Forty years ago, two human mothers hid their newborn children from me. Those two infants eluded me for too long. I was too ashamed to admit to any robot that two humans slipped from my grasp. And now here they are! As a reward for catching these two I will promote you, URL to Chief of Police."

"But Emperor, I'm already Chief of Police for the entire country," URL pointed out.

"Well then, I'll promote you to Chief of Police for the entire planet," Bender winked.

"Oh yeah," URL grinned.

"And for you, Calculon," Bender announced. "I gift to you the lead role in the Broadway production of your choice."

"Oh thank you, marvelous Emperor," Calculon clasped his hands together. "I will dazzle audiences young and old with my rendition of "Humans! A Musical of Mistakes."

"And the verdict, magnificent Emperor?" URL reminded Bender. "Just how shall we deal with these rebellious rebels?"

Bender put his hand to his forehead as if he was nursing a headache. "I haven't been needed to make a decision like this in centuries," he sighed. Turning his head away from Calculon and URL, Bender waved his hand. "Just put those two humans in the dungeon until I can figure out what to do with them."

Fry and Leela gawked at Bender. Calculon and URL bowed. "Of course, Emperor," the two robots spoke simultaneously. URL handcuffed Fry and Leela back to him and began dragging them away from the throne. "Come on, human rebel scum. Oh yeah."

Fry began hyperventilating. "We're not rebels! We're not even from this time! We knew Bender in the 31st Century! You gonna believe me!"

"And I'm not human anyway," Leela protested. "See the single eye? I'm a mutant. There's a difference you know!"

"Are you a sentient being made from organic material that happens to speak a language?" Calculon asked.

"Of course," Leela snapped.

"Then you are human," Calculon concluded.

"Oh, come on!" Leela cried as URL dragged her and Fry towards the elevator.

"Help! Somebody! Incredible Hulk? God? Anybody!" Fry wailed.

Fry's plea for help was left unanswered as the elevator door closed. Bender tapped his fingers together in thought as the elevator started to descend.

…

"You know what to do?"

"Yes."

"Good. You better get going. We have to hurry."

"But don't we have all the time in the world?

"Well, yes. I just want to take the opportunity before Fry and Leela lose their hope completely."

"Good point. I'll just go."

"Good luck."

…

"Well, this isn't so bad."

Leela stared at Fry. "Not so bad?" She shook her head. "We are chained to a dungeon wall, there's no food, no water, and I have to use the bathroom."

"So did I," Fry smiled.

"Oh lord, so that's what that smell is," Leela wrinkled her nose. She could usually handle nasty smells- her parents were sewer mutants, after all- but once Leela identified the stench she had to fight to keep her dinner down.

"Come one, Leela. We're still together. As long as we have each other, we still have hope. So chin up. Where is the one-eyed beauty that fights for what she believes in? Where is the girl who can beat me up before I can even make a fist?"

Leela grinned, but her smile soon faltered. "Fry, you knew Bender better than anyone. You were the only human who ever wanted to befriend him. Do you think he did all this because we were frozen?"

"I dunno. Maybe?" Fry shrugged.

Leela chuckled softly, smiling again.

At that moment, the door to the dungeon creaked open.

Fry and Leela stared at the figure walking up to them. They couldn't see his face until he was right in front of them.

Fry and Leela gasped. It was the same robot that was by Bender's side previously in the throne room. It was the very same robot that Leela almost recognized, but not quite.

"Who… who are you? Wha… what are you here for?" Fry stammered.

The robot sighed. "Phillip J. Fry and Turanga Leela. You knew me back in the 31st century, but I had to forget my whole childhood with you in order to follow my dream. But I know who you are now, and I know what I must do."

"What are you talking about?" Leela asked.

The robot looked at Leela in her eyes. "My name is Ben. And today, I am your liberator."


	5. Chapter 4: Ben and Melinda

O. M. G. What a chapter! And there are still some secrets to reveal. Author's Note: A special thanks to MegBeth for the new cover image, entitled "Under the Stars." Go and check her out on DeviantArt! Also, the contest I announced in the previous chapter is now closed. Congratulations to the winner- your robot self will first appear in this chapter!

Chapter 4: Ben and Melinda

"I'll admit I was a bit surprised to see you two here," Ben grinned. "And I definitely didn't expect to see Fry with regular human skin. I thought his skin was always green and glowing."

"Ben? How do you remember us?" Leela asked, squinting her eye. Last Leela saw of Ben, the Planet Express crew was sending him to Bending State University. Without his childhood memories none of them expected to see the child of Bender and Bev the soda machine ever again.

"I don't exactly remember you," Ben admitted. "Right after Dad asserted his position as Emperor, he came looking for me. I didn't know my relationship to him, but then he showed me videos of my childhood. They didn't help me remember, not really, but what I saw felt… right, somehow. So I went with what Dad told me."

"Wait a minute. Bender recorded a video of your childhood?" Fry asked. "I never saw a video camera when you lived with us."

"Dad didn't have a video camera, but his eyes are video cameras. He used to record everything," Ben explained. "Dad showed me what his eyes recorded during my childhood, up until the installation surgery."

"Wait a minute," Leela interjected. "Bender recorded everything? What do you mean by that?"

"I mean just how it sounds," retorted Ben. "Dad recorded everything around him with the digital cameras in his eyes. Anyway, we don't have time for this now. I came here to help you two escape this dungeon."

"Yeah-hoo!" Fry cried, pumping his fists in the air as far as they could while chained to a wall.

"Of course, I will need a favor in return if I help you escape," Ben added.

"Oh Lord," Leela muttered.

"This favor will benefit the two of you as well," Ben continued. "If you help, we will be able to stop Dad's reign as Emperor before it even begins."

"What do you mean?" Fry asked.

Ben grinned. "You'll see." Before Fry or Leela could say anything else, the robot grabbed their left wrists and slipped a bracelet on each. The two bracelets looked quite high-tech, with a lot of lights and buttons.

"What is this thing?" Fry began pulling his bracelet.

"Don't pull at that, Fry," Ben scolded. "Those are special holographic bracelets- only robot eyes will be tricked into seeing your holographic disguises. I decided to make you look like the guardbots you saw at the front door. Don't bother fiddling with the controls- you won't have clearance to alter the hologram anyway. But knowing you, Fry, you might end up breaking your bracelet."

"What about humans?" Leela interjected. The robot looked at Leela curiously. "Ben, you said that only robots are able to see these holographic disguises. But I know that there are still enslaved humans around this city. What about them? Won't they get suspicious?"

"Most of the human slaves are kept out of the way of robots," Ben explained. "Now we really have to get going. The others are waiting."

"What others?" Leela didn't budge- not that she could. "When can we take these bracelets off? And how will we get out of these chains?"

Ben sighed. "In order: the rest of the resistance, they will come off when the mission is complete, and like this." Ben's eyes began glowing red, and a laser came out of each, allowing for the robot to melt both Fry and Leela's chains at the same time.

"New upgrade," Ben explained once Fry and Leela were free. "We have a brilliant robot mechanic on our side- he just installed these eyes in me."

"Oh," was all Leela could say.

Ben then led the group out the door and into the hallway. There was nothing in this hallway except one of the crystal elevators, waiting patiently. Fry and Leela followed Ben in.

Once again, the elevator moved so fast that Leela was unable to see what was on each floor. This time they stopped on the fourth floor.

Fry gasped as the trio emptied the elevator. The entire floor appeared to be a TV studio. The elevator was positioned to open on the set of "All My Circuits."

Ben elbowed Fry. "Try to avoid making sounds with your mouth, Fry," Ben hissed. "The model of guardbots that you are disguised as don't talk unless spoken to."

Fry nodded. He hadn't said anything, but his gasp was pretty loud.

Leela looked around. None of the robots seemed startled by Fry and her appearing there. The holographic disguises must really work.

Ben led Fry and Leela into an office next to the "All My Circuits" set. Inside was a waiting room with a robo-secretary behind a desk. At the opposite end of the room was a door to an office, and in between the desk and door were three chairs.

The robo-secretary stood up the moment she noticed Ben walk in. "Crown Prince Ben," she bowed. "How may I assist you, your Highness?"

Leela's eye narrowed. She figured that these robots considered Ben to be a prince- he was Bender's son, after all. But if Ben was the Crown Prince, why was he working with the resistance?

"I'm looking for Melinda," Ben announced. "I believe she was expecting me."

"Oh yes!" the secretary said quickly. "Yes, Melinda mentioned having a meeting with you. Your half-sister is just finalizing next week's scripts with the president of the studio. I'll go get her."

The robo-secretary walked over to the office door and stuck her head in. "The Crown Prince is here to see Head Writer Melinda Rodriguez," the trio overheard her say.

There was a brief dialogue before the secretary walked back to her desk. "Melinda will be another minute," she said as she grabbed a stack of papers. "Please take a seat. I just have to make some copies." The robo-secretary hurried out of the waiting room.

Ben sat down in the middle chair. Fry and Leela moved to sit next to Ben when he coughed. "Guardbots can't sit down. No knees," Ben mumbled into his cough.

Fry and Leela looked at each other. Fry shrugged and stood in front of the chair to Ben's right. Leela stood on the other side.

"If you have any urgent questions, you should probably ask them now," Ben whispered. "You won't have another chance to talk until after we meet with the rest of the rebels."

Leela was trying to decide which question to ask when Fry blurted. "Is this Melinda really your half-sister?" Leela frowned at this insignificant question, but Fry didn't notice.

Ben nodded. "Dad has dozens of wives, and hundreds of children. Melinda is the daughter of the Donbot's daughter Bella and my Dad. Dad never married my Mom, though."

Leela was just opening her mouth to ask her question when a teenage fembot walked out of the office door. This fembot had dark purple hair-metal, shaped kind of like Bella's, only longer. Her head was more cylindrical than Bella's, but otherwise she was shaped exactly like the Donbot's younger daughter. The fembot's body was colored light purple, with the exception of her sleeveless babydoll dress and high heels, which were the same color as her hair.

When she spotted Ben, the fembot's cheeks colored a deeper purple than even her hair, giving her the appearance of blushing. "Ben!" the fembot frantically tried to smooth down her hair-metal, even though that was impossible. "You're here."

Ben nodded and began to speak to the fembot in binary. A minute later, Ben turned towards Fry and Leela. "I'd like you to meet my half-sister Melinda," introduced Ben. "She's only been activated for 18 days, but she is already the Head Writer on "All My Circuits." Ben cautiously lowered his voice. "She's also my second-in-command of the resistance."

Melinda shook Fry and Leela's hands. "It's nice to meet you, Fry and Leela. Ben filled me in about you being humans from the 31st century," she explained.

Grinning to herself, Leela couldn't help but notice the way Melinda got all flustered around Ben. Oh Lord, Leela thought as they walked out of the room and back into the elevator. This one's in love.


	6. Chapter 5: In Between

Well now. Fry and Leela have been freed from that dungeon, but there are a lot of questions to still be answered.

Chapter 5: In Between

Fry and Leela followed Ben and Melinda into the elevator. Once inside, Ben pressed the button for the sixth floor. As usual, the elevator zoomed up so fast that Fry and Leela couldn't see what was on each floor.

Just as the elevator passed the fifth floor, Ben placed his finger above the elevator buttons and pressed. His finger hit a camouflaged button, and the elevator stopped between floors with a screech.

The lights in the elevator flickered, then went dark.

"What happened?" Fry panicked. "Is this Limbo?"

"No, Fry. We're between the fifth and sixth floors," Ben explained. He bent the elevator door open. Thumping noises and screams could be heard from both above and below the secret floor.

A few meager fires scattered light and shadows across the room.

"This is where all the humans are."

Fry and Leela gasped. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of human slaves crammed in the space between floors. There was no real furniture, and the humans were all wearing what looked like burlap sack tunics.

The human slaves stared with wide eyes at the group. As they picked their way through them, Leela noticed a few mutants in the masses of slaves.

Fry stopped in front of an enslaved couple sitting on a thin mat and holding a tiny baby. The father looked a little like a male Amy, only with three eyes and Kif's skin color. The mother was obviously a mutant. She looked like Vyloet, except with one eye and an arm where her left ear. Their child had four eyes. The infant also had skin that was the mother's color but as smooth as the father's. Three teensy feet peeked out of the baby's tunic.

Fry crouched down to get a better look at the baby. "Cute kid," he said. "What's his or her name?"

The family looked at Fry, alarmed. They didn't say a word, and just scooted away slowly.

Fry looked at Leela, Ben and Melinda. "Was it something I said?"

Melinda cracked a smile. Ben frowned at her and replied "Only robots can talk, Fry. When my father took control, all the slaves had their tongues cut out. The same thing happened with each generation. Eventually, slaves started being born without tongues."

Fry wrinkled his nose. "Gross."

The group continued tiptoeing through the throng of slaves. Leela began to get impatient. "What are we doing here, anyway?" she finally snapped.

Fry and Ben were taking the lead. They were so busy exchanging stories about Bender that they didn't hear Leela. Melinda, on the other hand, was walking right next to Leela.

"I know it's a frustrating walk, Leela, but you have to trust Ben," said Melinda. She blushed purple. "Believe me, I've been with him since he started this rebellion."

Leela looked at Melinda. "Are you two dating?"

"What?" Melinda yelped. "No, no!" She blushed harder. "Is it that obvious that I want to?"

Leela snorted. "You're like Fry before we started dating… except Fry was more out loud and proud about being in love with me."

Melinda let out a squeaky giggle. "I want to tell him how I feel. But what does it matter? If we go through with this plan, I may never exist…"

Leela filed Melinda's words into her memory. Better to ask Ben about his plan later. "If you think you will cease to exist," Leela said slowly. "Then it's even more important to tell Ben that you love him. I learned that lesson the hard way. When I finally confessed my feelings to Fry, I thought I was going to be obliterated in a black hole."

Melinda nodded slowly. "Maybe you're right, Leela."

A loud scream from the floor above pierced the air. Leela winced. "What's with all the noise?"

"The floor below is where the Donbot and the Robot Mafia stays when in town. And the floor above is where the new-and-improved Robot Hell is," Melinda explained. "Together they make a lot of noise."

Their group had reached the end of the room. A bunch of silhouetted figures stood there, their backs against the wall.

"The noise makes this the only place where we can't be overheard."

Ben smiled proudly at Fry and Leela. "I am honored and humbled to introduce you to… the rebellion." At those words, a fire lit up, revealing a group of saluting robots.

Leela was not impressed.


End file.
